Closing summary
We’re about to shut this live page but are continuing our round-the-clock coverage of the Middle East crisis. Here’s a recap of the latest events as it turns 7am in Tehran and 11.30pm in Washington DC, and we also have a full report. Thanks for joining us.
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The US military said it completed a fresh wave of evening strikes against Iranian targets on Thursday morning local time to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten ships transiting the strait of Hormuz. Targets including the southern port city of Bandar Abbas – home to key navy and Revolutionary Guard facilities – while it earlier hit Greater Tunb Island, Central Command said on social media. “The U.S. military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction,” it said, referring to President Donald Trump.
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The Iranian army said it targeted US military facilities in Jordan with drones on Thursday, state media reported, after the latest American strikes. It said that in response to “enemy aggression” it targeted communication systems and fuel storage facilities of the US military there using kamikaze drones, state television Irib reported.
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Iranian state media earlier reported explosions in several cities including Bandar Abbas, Rask and Chabahar, while earlier reports also cited blasts around southern sites including Qeshm and Bandar Imam Khomeini, as well as in Bushehr, home to Iran’s only civilian nuclear plant. Iranian air defences were reportedly activated in the capital, Tehran, on Thursday morning.
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Iran targeted Bahrain and Kuwait with retaliatory missile and drone fire early on Thursday.
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The latest US strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded hundreds of people across the country, according to Iranian officials. There was no immediate word on damage or casualties from Iran’s strikes, but its health ministry said at least 30 people had been killed in southern Iran in US attacks in recent days and more than 260 people injured.
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Centcom said US aircraft fired missiles into an oil tanker’s smokestack in the strait of Hormuz, disabling the vessel. It said the Belma ignored multiple warnings as it attempted to violate the US blockade.
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Trump said he did not like giving deadlines when asked by reporters if Tehran had a deadline before the US started attacking Iranian bridges, as threatened. “I don’t like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know, they know the story ... they better behave.”
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Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said that if Iran did not benefit from its memorandum of understanding with the US, “we have no reason to adhere to such an understanding”. Iran had “never welcomed war, nor do we now”, the parliamentary speaker said on Telegram. He called on Iranians to continue with their armed resistance, but to also “use the tools of diplomacy and negotiation to achieve and consolidate national interests”.
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Trump thanked Iran for allowing an American citizen he says was “wrongfully detained in December of 2024” to leave the country. “She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,” he said, while the woman was named by her lawyer as Dena Karari, a dual American and Iranian citizen.
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The reports of strikes on Tehran would be the first time the Iranian capital has come under attack during the latest round of US fire.
Iranian air defences were reportedly heard throughout the city early on Thursday, as Jonathan Yerushalmy writes in our latest full report, after the US earlier targeted southern Iranian coastal defences and missile sites as well as Iran’s Greater Tunb Island.
Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Kuwait and – as just mentioned – Jordan.
The escalating waves of tit-for-tat strikes come days after the ceasefire between the two sides appeared to have entirely collapsed, with fears of a return to full-scale war.
The full report’s here:
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Iranian army says it targeted US military sites in Jordan
Iran’s army says it targeted US military facilities in Jordan with drones on Thursday, state media reported, after the latest wave of American strikes against Iran.
The army said said that in response to “enemy aggression” it targeted communication systems and fuel storage facilities of the US military in Jordan using kamikaze drones, state television Irib reported.
Iran has been hitting back amid consecutive days of US strikes by targeting American military sites in neighbouring countries in what it has called an “existential war” with the US.
Kuwait’s defence ministry said its military had intercepted four cruise missiles and 21 hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace since dawn on Wednesday, denouncing the “heinous Iranian aggression”.
Its army later said it was intercepting more drone attacks from Iran early on Thursday, while Bahrain said it also sounded air raid warning sirens.
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The latest US strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded hundreds of people across the country, according to Iranian officials.
There was no immediate word on damage or casualties from Iran’s strikes, the AP news wire also said.
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US says latest attack wave on Iran completed
The US has finished its evening wave of strikes against Iran, the military’s Central Command is saying.
American forces hit Iranian command centres, air defence sites and missile and drone capabilities as well as coastal surveillance facilities to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten “innocent mariners” crewing commercial vessels through the strait of Hormuz, Centcom said in a post on X.
It also said it hit targets including the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, and that earlier – in the morning – it struck coastal defence and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island during a “90-minute wave”.
Centcom’s post finished with a reference to Donald Trump, saying:
The U.S. military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction.
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The report of Iranian air defences being activated in Tehran comes as Donald Trump has warned he could widen attacks if the Islamic republic doesn’t return to talks.
Iranian state media has reported explosions in several cities including Bandar Abbas, Rask and Chabahar amid the latest wave of US strikes.
Earlier reports also cited blasts around southern sites including Qeshm and Bandar Imam Khomeini, while state media later said fresh US strikes hit Bushehr, home to Iran’s only civilian nuclear plant.
US Central Command said the latest strikes began at 1900 GMT on Wednesday and targeted Iranian capabilities used to threaten vessels in the strait of Hormuz. The US military also said one of its aircraft disabled an empty oil tanker trying to break the naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, where air sirens rang out as attacks against civilian targets were intercepted, while Jordan’s armed forces said they had downed three missiles from Iran, Agence France-Press reports.
In Iraq, Kurdish forces said the US-led coalition downed eight explosive-laden drones over Erbil, the capital of the northern Kurdistan region, where AFP journalists heard explosions and saw smoke near the US consulate. No casualties were reported.
“Next week it gets really bad for them,” Trump told Fox News, threatening to hit power plants and bridges unless Tehran returned to the negotiating table.
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Iran’s air defences have been activated in Tehran to counter “hostile threats” on the Iranian capital, according to the country’s semi-official Mehr news agency.
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In more news from the US, the House of Representatives has defeated a measure to slash military aid to Israel.
But more than 100 House Democrats voted for it in a significant rebuke of the longtime US ally as accusations that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government authorised genocide in Gaza continue to convulse the party ahead of US midterm elections in November.
See the full report here:
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Dual US-Iranian citizen allowed to leave Iran
Donald Trump has thanked the country he is bombing, Iran, for allowing an American citizen he says was “wrongfully detained in December of 2024” to leave the country.
“She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,” Trump wrote on social media, without naming the woman. “The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran!”
The woman is Dena Karari, a dual American and Iranian citizen, her lawyer Jared Genser announced on social media.
Genser said he was “excited to report” that Karari, who was banned from leaving Iran after visiting her family in 2024, and was interrogated but not detained, “is now safe and traveling back to the United States”.
“This would not have happened but for the extraordinary and relentless efforts of” Trump, he added.
The New York Times reported last year that an Iranian American woman who was first imprisoned and prevented from leaving the country in December 2024, but released from custody, “works for an American technological company and runs a charity for underprivileged children in Iran”. After the US joined Israel in bombing Iran in 2025, she was charged with espionage.
According to a 2023 Guardian profile of Genser, the human rights lawyer nicknamed “the extractor” has managed to free over 340 prisoners of conscience from 20 countries over the past two decades.
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Further to the last post, Kuwait’s defence ministry said earlier its military had intercepted four cruise missiles and 21 hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace since dawn on Wednesday, denouncing the “heinous Iranian aggression”.
There was material damage but no casualties, it posted on X.
It said the sounds of any new explosions were Kuwaiti air defences intercepting new attacks and urged people to follow safety instructions.
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Kuwait’s army says it is intercepting drone attacks from Iran, while Bahrain says warning sirens of an air raid are also sounding there.
Both countries host American forces and have been targeted in Iran’s retaliatory strikes on US allies in the region.
A US missile attack has hit areas near an Iranian hospital dedicated to cancer patients in the western city of Ahvaz, according an official at Iran’s health ministry.
Hossein Kermanpour posted on X that some patients and their companions fled the Boghayi hospital amid the intense sounds and tremors and that “now only the most critically ill patients remain!”.
The sounds of two explosions have been heard east of the southern coastal city of Bandar Abbas, according to Iranian state media.
It earlier reported blasts in the port city and in Chabahar – another to the east – as well as in the western city of Ahvaz.
They come amid the latest US attacks the military says are targeting Iran’s capability to threaten ships transiting the strait of Hormuz.
Updated
The day so far
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The US military launched another wave of strikes against Iran, which Centcom said were “targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the strait of Hormuz”. Iranian state media reported explosions heard in the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Chabahar, and in Ahvaz, near the border with Iraq. It followed another wave of US strikes earlier on Wednesday during daylight hours.
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Centcom also said US aircraft fired missiles into an oil tanker’s smokestack in the strait of Hormuz, disabling the vessel. It said: “US forces observed Curacao-flagged M/T Belma transiting international waters toward Kharg Island. The commercial vessel ignored multiple warnings as it attempted to violate the U.S. blockade. A U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel after firing hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran.”
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Donald Trump said he does not like giving deadlines when asked by reporters if Iran had a deadline before the United States starts attacking Iranian bridges. “I don’t like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know, they know the story ... they better behave,” said, the US president, who has given Iran at least eight deadlines since he and Israel launched the war on 28 February.
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Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that if Iran did not benefit from its memorandum of understanding with the United States, “We have no reason to adhere to such an understanding.” Iran has “never welcomed war, nor do we now”, the parliamentary speaker said in a statement posted on Telegram. He called on Iranians to continue with their armed resistance, but to also “use the tools of diplomacy and negotiation to achieve and consolidate national interests”. More on his comments here.
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At least 30 people have been killed in southern Iran in US attacks in recent days and more than 260 people have been injured, Iran’s health ministry said.
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US military says it disabled vessel in strait of Hormuz trying to breach reimposed blockade on Iranian ports
US Central Command has said US aircraft fired missiles into an oil tanker’s smokestack in the strait of Hormuz, disabling the vessel.
In an update on X, Centcom said:
US forces enforced naval blockade measures against Iran, July 15, by disabling an unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward an Iranian port in the Arabian Gulf.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces observed Curacao-flagged M/T Belma transiting international waters toward Kharg Island.
The commercial vessel ignored multiple warnings as it attempted to violate the U.S. blockade. A U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel after firing hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran.
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Iranian state media has reported explosions being heard in the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Chabahar, and in Ahvaz, near the border with Iraq, since the US military launched a fresh wave of strikes a short while ago.
Further to that, as Donald Trump addresses the defence summit at the US Army War College, he has been touting what he said was nearly $10bn in promised investments in technology while his war on Iran has reduced the US supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot and THAAD interceptors.
“We’re really doing well with Iran,” Trump said, addressing a roundtable of cabinet officials and business and defense industry leaders, adding, “Iran is unhappy right now.”
The White House told the Associated Press the summit is bringing together key leaders in defense and some of the largest global investors to spotlight the importance of national security and identify investment opportunities.
Summit attendees include JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Blackstone President Jon Gray, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet, General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, SpaceX director Antonio Gracias and artificial intelligence firm Palantir chief technology officer of analytics Shyam Sankar, McCormick’s office said.
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Donald Trump is speaking at the Pennsylvania Defence and Innovation summit, where he has spoken about the war in Iran and speculated about whether a deal can be reached with the country or whether the US will “finish it off”.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is not happy right now,” he told delegates at a presidential roundtable.
“They want to settle so badly. They don’t like what we’re doing. We’ll find out whether we want to settle with them or if we just finish it off.”
Trump said his defence secretary Pete Hegseth has been “really amazing”, but said US munitions manufacturers needed to work faster.
“We need a little more speed. We have the best quality in the world, but we need a little more speed,” he said.
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US military announces another wave of strikes against Iran
The US has said it is launching another wave of strikes against Iran in a further effort to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
It will be the second set of strikes targeting Iran during daylight hours today.
In a post on X, US Central Command said it had “launched operations for a second wave of strikes today against Iran”.
“The strikes are targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway vital to global commerce.”
The statement added: “The US military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction.”
Updated
Chaos and confusion bring US no closer to resolution on strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump has taken the war with Iran into a new, murkier phase as the two sides move further and further from the vague memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on 17 June.
And as during the opening phase of the conflict, the US leader’s objectives and methods are clouded in confusion, daily U-turns and boasts that within hours are revealed to be false.
Washington’s short-term aim is clear enough – to regain control of the strait of Hormuz from Iran – and the president seems willing to extend the bombing campaign from beyond Iran’s southern shores to achieve this.
But the resumed fighting is also likely to push oil prices towards $90 a barrel, potentially taking Trump closer to defeats at the US midterm elections that could bequeath him a final two years as a lame, if angry, duck.
Iran’s foreign ministry has summoned the British ambassador following the UK’s ban on support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Reuters.
On Monday, outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer said the government would designate the branch of the Iranian military under a new National Security Act, enabling law enforcement to take action against anyone deemed to be providing it with support, but falling short of proscribing the group as a terrorist organisation.
Iran 'better behave', says Trump - as he claims he doesn't like deadlines
Donald Trump said he does not like giving deadlines when asked by reporters on Wednesday if Iran had a deadline before the United States starts attacking Iranian bridges.
“I don’t like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know, they know the story ... they better behave,” Trump said.
The US president, in fact, has a history of setting deadlines – or perhaps we should say, unenforced deadlines – for Iran to end the war he started but has since struggled to end. Some counts have it as at least eight deadlines, which he then publicly shifted or extended.
Indeed, since the conflict began on 28 February, Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing if Iran didn’t reopen the strait of Hormuz, reach a deal, and/or hand over its enriched uranium. Over the last few months that has included several infamous threats to bomb civilian infrastructure including bridges and power plants – which would potentially be war crimes under international law.
He typically then walks back his threats within hours, extending or postponing his deadlines citing “progress” made in talks.
More on that now from Reuters, which reports that an explosive-laden drone was shot down by air defences over Erbil, citing security sources.
The drone fell near the US consulate in the city, the sources told the news agency.
Explosions have been heard near the US consulate in Erbil, Iraq, AFP reporters on the ground are reporting.
I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
Iran's top negotiator says Tehran has no reason to honour US MoU without benefits
Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that if Iran did not benefit from its memorandum of understanding with the United States, “We have no reason to adhere to such an understanding.”
Iran has “never welcomed war, nor do we now”, the parliamentary speaker said in a statement posted on Telegram.
He said Iran’s approach to the war and negotiations to end it should be based on national interests, national security and a long-term perspective, adding that Tehran had no choice but to rely on its own strength.
He called on Iranians to continue with their armed resistance, but to also “use the tools of diplomacy and negotiation to achieve and consolidate national interests”.
“We must always be prepared for battle and stand firm to protect our national security and interests,” he added.
The country’s national security depends on maintaining “Iranian arrangements” in the strait of Hormuz, Ghalibaf said, adding that in order to do so, “Iranian armed forces have complete freedom of action as always to confront the enemy’s aggression.”
Updated
Iran’s education ministry has delayed exams for students across six provinces in light of the renewed US attacks, Al Jazeera reports.
The ministry said “final exams for all academic tracks in the 12th grade” were postponed. They had been scheduled to take place on Thursday and Saturday.
Earlier, the ministry announced it had relocated exam centres near sensitive or military sites to safer locations.
The US government issued sanctions on Wednesday targeting individuals and entities that it said were a part of an international network helping Iran procure weapons.
The sanction targets include Iranian and Russian nationals, as well as entities bases in Iran, Russia and Nigeria, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
The move comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, including recent hostilities over control of the strait of Hormuz, and as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Iran through a series of sanctions measures.
Wednesday’s sanctions targets “exemplify Iran’s use of foreign aviation and transport firms, financial conduits, and travel coordinators to obscure the IRGC’s role in illicit procurement and to move material and personnel globally,” the Treasury said in a statement.
The day so far
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The US military has denied that its forces struck a civilian wheat storage facility in Iran on Tuesday. It said that Iranian military targets were struck to degrade Tehran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
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Iran has threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East after the US reimposed a blockade of its ports and ships, as the two countries traded strikes for a fifth day and Donald Trump threatened to expand US strikes on Iran next week. The US blockade came into force early on Wednesday, prompting Iran to shut the strait of Hormuz and carry out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes on countries hosting US bases in the region.
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The US military said it has launched a new wave of strikes against Iran as the warring countries continue their back-and-forth attacks in the Middle East. US Central Command (Centcom) issued a statement today announcing the strikes that took place during daylight hours. In its attacks over recent days, the US has struck Iran only at night.
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Centcom said the strikes were “designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz”.
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The Iranian army vowed a “decisive response” after seven personnel were reported killed in a US attack on an Iranian military base. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a number of personnel were also wounded in the incident at the base in Bampur in south-eastern Iran.
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More than 30 people have been killed in southern Iran in US attacks in recent days, said government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani. Iran’s health ministry said more than 260 people have been injured across the country in the latest wave of US strikes.
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Israeli airstrikes have killed at least a dozen people in Gaza over the past two days, local health officials said Wednesday, as strikes continue almost daily despite a months-old ceasefire with Hamas. On Wednesday, three members of a family were killed in central Gaza, Al Aqsa Hospital officials said.
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Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, travelled to Doha on Wednesday to attend the funeral of former Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Iran’s ISNA reported, days after Iran attacked Qatar. Iran has attacked what it says are US targets in Qatar – a mediator between Washington and Tehran in the Iran war – most recently on Sunday when the death of the former emir was announced.
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Lebanon and Israel concluded US-brokered talks in Rome on Wednesday, with a US official saying they had made progress on implementing a plan that could see Israeli forces begin to withdraw from some parts of southern Lebanon within days. The two longtime foes held ambassador-level talks at the US embassy in Rome on Tuesday and Wednesday - their sixth round of face-to-face negotiations since a new war erupted on 2 March between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, triggered by the wider regional conflict.
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Sirens rang out in Bahrain, while Kuwait and Jordan reported intercepting drones and missiles fired from Iran. The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Tehran forces launched a drone attack on a military base in Jordan that hosts US warplanes, while the IRGC claimed to have hit American facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
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US strikes targeted Iran’s southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only civilian nuclear plant, according to state media. It was the second day in a row that the city has come under attack, according to IRNA.
US military denies striking civilian wheat storage facility in Iran
The US military has denied that its forces struck a civilian wheat storage facility in Iran on Tuesday.
It said that Iranian military targets were struck to degrade Tehran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
Morocco signed an agreement on Wednesday to participate in the International Stabilization Force (ISF) for Gaza, state media reported.
The agreement was signed in Rabat at a meeting attended by Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita, senior defence officials and Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, along with a delegation including the commander of the ISF, the state news agency MAP said.
Lebanon and Israel conclude two days of 'positive' talks - US official
Lebanon and Israel concluded US-brokered talks in Rome on Wednesday, with a US official saying they had made progress on implementing a plan that could see Israeli forces begin to withdraw from some parts of southern Lebanon within days.
The two longtime foes held ambassador-level talks at the US embassy in Rome on Tuesday and Wednesday - their sixth round of face-to-face negotiations since a new war erupted on 2 March between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, triggered by the wider regional conflict.
Under a US-brokered 26 June framework deal, Lebanon and Israel agreed to implement a ‘pilot zone’ project that would see the disarmament of militant groups - an apparent reference to Hezbollah - as well as the deployment of Lebanese troops to the south and the progressive withdrawal of Israeli forces still occupying Lebanese land.
In written comments distributed to journalists, a US official described the two days of talks as “productive and positive“.
“We agreed on the structure and guidelines for the pilot zone process, to be finalised and implemented in the coming days,” the official told Reuters.
The official said talks would move to a technical phase to implement the framework deal and reach a “comprehensive agreement between Israel and Lebanon.“
Iran has threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East after the US reimposed a blockade of its ports and ships, as the two countries traded strikes for a fifth day and Donald Trump threatened to expand US strikes on Iran next week.
The US blockade came into force early on Wednesday, prompting Iran to shut the strait of Hormuz and carry out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes on countries hosting US bases in the region.
“Regional energy exports are either shared by all or denied to all,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Wednesday. It added that the strait would remain closed until the “end of America’s evils”, further disrupting shipping in the waterway that before the war was a chokepoint for a fifth of the world’s oil and gas.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the renewed US blockade had “in a way, dismantled the Islamabad memorandum”, the interim deal that, among other things, was meant to keep the strait open and give space for negotiations towards a permanent peace.
The flare-up in violence and disruption to shipping further drove up the price of oil, with the price of crude on Wednesday continuing to rise past the one-month high reached on Tuesday.
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least a dozen people in Gaza over the past two days, local health officials said Wednesday, as strikes continue almost daily despite a months-old ceasefire with Hamas.
On Wednesday, three members of a family were killed in central Gaza, Al Aqsa Hospital officials said.
On Tuesday, woman and six police officers were among those killed in an airstrike on a police station in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, hospital officials said.
A man died in the bombing of a tent camp in Khan Younis in the south, Nasser Hospital officials said. And Israeli forces shot and killed a child in the Muwasi area outside the southernmost city of Rafah, according to hospital officials.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes in central and southern Gaza.
In a statement on the attack in Jabaliya, it claimed that four of the slain police officers were Hamas militants, without providing evidence on how those killed were involved in planning or carrying out attacks.
An image has been shared on the newswires of Sami Abu Qassem, a Palestinian boy who was wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza that killed his parents and six-year-old sister, leaving him the sole survivor of his family (read more in a previous post at 10:11).
In a further update, US Centcom said it has redirected two commercials ships since reimposing the naval blockade on Iranian ports.
In a post on X, it said:
Since restarting the naval blockade against Iranian ports 17 hours ago, US forces have redirected 2 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade. The US military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance.”
The third time Anna Liedtke was subjected to an illegal strip-search in Israeli detention, female prison guards forced her on to her knees, covered her mouth to stop her screaming and raped her, according to interviews and a criminal complaint filed in Israel.
She described hearing male guards laughing during the attack, which she believes they watched and may have filmed. It took place in an area separated from the prison hallway by a partially drawn curtain that her attackers had left open.
Liedtke, 25, joined a flotilla sailing from Europe to Gaza with humanitarian aid last autumn. Israeli forces intercepted her boat in international waters on 8 October and took her to Israel, where she was detained for five days.
The abuse and violence directed at flotilla participants in Israeli prisons, including rape, was intended to intimidate, Liedtke said. “It’s clear they want to break our will and silence us, making this so traumatic that we will never talk about Palestine again,” she told the Guardian.
Read more:
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, travelled to Doha on Wednesday to attend the funeral of former Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Iran’s ISNA reported, days after Iran attacked Qatar.
Iran has attacked what it says are US targets in Qatar – a mediator between Washington and Tehran in the Iran war – most recently on Sunday when the death of the former emir was announced.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Sunday it was targeting Qatar’s Al Udied, the biggest US base in the Middle East, with ballistic missiles.
Updated
US Centcom has issued another statement saying it has completed its round of strikes against Greater Tunb island near the strait of Hormuz, which is administered by Iran but claimed by the UAE.
In a post on X, it said:
US Central Command (CENTCOM) completed a morning round of strikes against Iran at 7.30am ET [12.30pm BST] on July 15.
CENTCOM launched precision munitions against coastal defence systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island during the 90-minute wave. The strikes further degraded Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz.”
In an earlier statement (see post at 11:38) Centcom said it began launching strikes at 6am ET [11am BST].
Updated
US is listening to Lebanon's position in talks with Israel, says Aoun
The Lebanese president, Jospeh Aoun, said Washington was listening to his country’s position in ongoing talks with Israel and that the US-backed framework for negotiations were already producing results.
“The option of negotiation may not be the safest, but it is currently the only way to achieve the results and objectives we all desire,” he said during a meeting with an Orthodox Christian delegation today, according to a readout released by his office.
“The framework agreement is beginning to bear fruit, Washington is now listening to us, and the issue of Lebanon is on US president Donald Trump’s agenda.”
His remarks came as Israeli and Lebanese teams resumed talks for a second day in Rome, with Beirut hoping for progress towards securing an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Summary of developments so far
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The US military said it has launched a new wave of strikes against Iran as the warring countries continue their back-and-forth attacks in the Middle East. US Central Command (Centcom) issued a statement today announcing the strikes that took place during daylight hours. In its attacks over recent days, the US has struck Iran only at night.
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Centcom said the strikes were “designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz”.
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The Iranian army vowed a “decisive response” after seven personnel were reported killed in a US attack on an Iranian military base. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a number of personnel were also wounded in the incident at the base in Bampur in south-eastern Iran.
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More than 30 people have been killed in southern Iran in US attacks in recent days, said government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani. Iran’s health ministry said more than 260 people have been injured across the country in the latest wave of US strikes.
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Sirens rang out in Bahrain, while Kuwait and Jordan reported intercepting drones and missiles fired from Iran. The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Tehran forces launched a drone attack on a military base in Jordan that hosts US warplanes, while the IRGC claimed to have hit American facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
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US strikes targeted Iran’s southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only civilian nuclear plant, according to state media. It was the second day in a row that the city has come under attack, according to IRNA.
Updated
US Centcom announces new wave of daytime strikes against Iran
In its latest update, US Central Command (Centcom) announced a new wave of strikes against Iran “designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz”.
AP reported that the statement acknowledged airstrikes during daylight hours, when in previous attacks in recent days the US has targeted Iran only at night.
Centcom said:
At 6am ET [11am BST] today, US Central Command forces began launching a wave of strikes against Iran. The strikes are designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz.”
Earlier, Centcom said it had hit “dozens of military targets” including missile and drone sites and defence systems near the strait and other Iranian coastal areas.
Updated
Bahrain’s defences forces said Iran has continued to launch “heinous attacks” against the country and that its air defences have thwarted “several” Iranian air attacks. It did not specify how many or what type of projectiles were intercepted.
Earlier today, the IRGC claimed to have destroyed what it described as the command and control centre, naval support management centre, warehouses and fuel tanks at the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.
British man jailed in Iran given extra two-year sentence, family says
Meanwhile, PA has reported that a British man jailed in Iran on spying charges has been sentenced to an additional two years in prison, according to his family.
Craig Foreman and his wife, Lindsay, were sentenced to 10 years in prison in February after being convicted of espionage, charges they both deny.
According to his family, a judge had extended Mr Foreman’s sentence by two years for speaking to the media.
The couple, from East Sussex, were arrested in January 2025 while travelling through Iran during an around-the-world motorcycle trip. They are being held in Tehran’s Evin prison.
Their son, Joe Bennett, said the family was “extremely concerned” by the reports.
“We have received extremely concerning reports that Craig has been sentenced to a further two years in prison,” he said.
“We understand he was told he was being taken to see his lawyer but was instead brought before a judge and informed of the additional sentence.
“Despite requests, he was allowed no lawyer, no translator and no opportunity to defend himself. He was told the two years had been added because he had spoken to the press.
“We didn’t think we could be any more shocked at their appalling treatment, but in this case we are absolutely flabbergasted.”
The UK Foreign Office said it was “urgently following up with the Iranian authorities about the reported increased sentence”.
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The IRGC claimed earlier today that it had struck a US army logistics and support centre in Mina Abdullah in Kuwait.
Kuwait’s state news agency (Kuna) reported last night that a fire had been brought under control by the army and national guard at an undisclosed location that it said was targeted in an Iranian attack. It was unclear whether this was the same incident reported by the IRGC statement.
The IRGC released a video purportedly showing the attack in Mina Abdullah, where a drone can be seen striking an already-burning warehouse.
Couple and daughter, 6, killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say
In Gaza, where Israeli airstrikes have continued nine months after a nominal ceasefire was announced, a couple and their six-year-old child were killed in a bombing in the central city of Deir al-Balah, according to Palestinian health officials.
The Israeli airstrike this morning killed Omar Abu Qassem, his wife, Asma, and their daughter, Habeeba, medical sources told the Palestinain Wafa news agency. According to Reuters, their son had survived but sustained injuries.
There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Times of Israel, citing a military source, reported the strike targeted a Hamas operative.
In its latest update on the number of casualties, the health ministry in Gaza said 13 people were killed and 18 others injured in the past day.
Since the ceasefire in October, a total number of 1,123 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the ministry added.
According to Israeli media, Netanyahu is expected to attend memorial events for the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who he described as one of Israel’s “greatest friends”. However, a date for the funeral has not been publicly announced.
Graham died of a “brief and sudden illness” on Saturday, according to his office.
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Netanyahu will travel to the US this weekend - Reuters
Reuters news agency, citing a senior Israeli official, has reported that Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to the US on Saturday.
The official told Reuters that the Israeli prime minister wants to meet US president Donald Trump, but it is not clear if he will.
If confirmed, it would be the first time Netanyahu has visited the US since the war against Iran began. His last visit was in February, about two weeks before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran.
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Tehran vows 'decisive response' after 7 personnel killed in US strike on Iranian military base - report
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported that seven personnel were killed in US strikes on an Iranian military base in Bampur in the country’s south-east.
Quoting the Iranian army, the news agency reported that a number of personnel were also wounded and vowed a “decisive response” to the attack.
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Iran's Bushehr city under attack, says local official
For a second day in a row, US strikes targeted Iran’s southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only civilian nuclear plant, according to the state news agency IRNA quoting a local official.
“In continuation of the brutality of the American enemy, three points in the city of Bushehr were attacked today,” Mohammad Mozaffari, the governor of Bushehr, was quoted as saying.
He added that there were no reports of casualties.
Last Thursday, Iranian authorities said a US projectile hit an area close to the nuclear power plant. It was unclear whether the reported strike caused any damage to the facility.
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More than 30 people killed in southern Iran in recent attacks, says government spokesperson
More than 30 people have been killed in southern Iran in recent days, said government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani, as the US launch a fresh round of strikes targeting the country’s south.
In a post on X, Mohajerani said:
In the recent attacks on the southern part of the country, more than 30 civilians lost their lives. While expressing our condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families, we honour the memory of the fallen. The government will stand by the people with all its might. The south of Iran is the beating heart of this land. The south of Iran, the soul of Iran.”
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More than 260 people injured in Iran in recent wave of US attacks, Tehran health ministry says
More than 260 people have been injured in Iran in the recent wave of US attacks, according to the Iranian health ministry.
Six of the wounded were children, said Hossein Kermanpour, head of public relations for Iran’s ministry of health, in a post of X.
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An Indian national who went missing after an attack on commercial vessel GFS Galaxy off the coast of Oman is dead, his father-in-law said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Of the 11 Indians on board, 10 were rescued, the Indian foreign ministry said on Sunday.
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US Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked the advancement of a must-pass defense bill in protest of Donald Trump’s resumption of hostilities with Iran, writes the Guardian’s Chris Stein.
The hold up of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) comes amid the fiercest exchange in fire between the countries in weeks, which has amplified frustration among Democrats that the US remains involved in the conflict despite the passage last month of a war powers resolution intended to force a ceasefire.
Read the full story here:
In a flare-up that entered the fifth day, the US Central Command (Centcom) said it struck dozens of Iranian military targets near the strait and elsewhere along the country’s coast to “degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews”.
Iranian state media reported explosions near the port city of Bandar Abbas, on the island of Qeshm and on Bandar Imam Khomeini.
Soon after the strikes earlier on Wednesday, sirens rang out in Bahrain, while Kuwait and Jordan reported intercepting drones and missiles fired from Iran.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that Iranian forces launched a drone attack on a military base in Jordan that hosts American warplanes, while the IRGC had hit US facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
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Iran threatens to halt all Middle East energy exports over US naval blockade
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards paramilitary threatened earlier on Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the US blockade.
The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.
When US president Donald Trump announced the return of the blockade on Monday, he also said he would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the strait. But he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before resuming the blockade, citing requests from allies in the Gulf.
Both US and Iran launched attacks as the blockade was reimposed.
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Our full report of the all the latest is here:
A US strike hit a wheat storage silo in Hoveyzeh, south west of Iran, early on Wednesday, according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East, with retaliatory strikes between the US and Iran continuing for a fourth day straight, despite an interim agreement intended to provide space to negotiate a lasting peace.
Instead, the US has now reimposed a naval blockade on the strait of Hormuz and Donald Trump has said that US strikes will target Iran’s power plants and bridges next week if Tehran does not agree to a deal.
Iran has responded by attacking US allies in the region.
Here is the latest:
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In an interview with Fox News, Trump said US attacks would continue to increase in severity until a deal was reached. “We’re going to knock out all their power plants,” he said. “We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
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US Central Command (Centcom) said the latest strikes were aimed at “degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping” in the strait, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas where Tehran has repeatedly carried out attacks on civilian vessels.
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Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the US decision to renew the blockade “has, in a way, dismantled the Islamabad memorandum”. Days of retaliatory strikes continue to push the region back into all-out war.
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Iran responded to US strikes on Wednesday by targeting American allies including Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted what it described as command-and-control, logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. Jordan’s army said early Wednesday that its air defences intercepted and shot down three ballistic missiles that entered its airspace.
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Since last week, renewed US attacks have killed at least 28 people in Iran, according to a tally based on Iranian media and official announcements.
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